The real story behind the controversial photos of Donald Trump’s sons

When you are president of the United States, the past will always haunt you. Controversial photos of Trump’s sons are circulating on Reddit, even though they are several years old and people have many opinions about them.

Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump went on an African big game hunting safari. Photos emerged of them posing with the animals they killed and people weren’t happy about it, but there’s more to the story.

When this first came out a few years ago, TMZ called them “pathetic bloodthirsty idiots.” But what they didn’t explain was that the Trumps were hunting legally. It was confirmed by the director-general of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, who said they were accompanied by game rangers the entire time they hunted with a registered outfitter.

Trump Jr. says hunting was something they did with their grandfather and that “Anyone who thinks hunters are just ‘bloodthirsty idiots’ hasn’t studied hunting yet… Nature is actually humbling. Hunting forces one to persevere, to master oneself, even to really get to know the wild environment.”

Whether or not you agree with hunting from a moral point of view, traveling hunters like the Trumps pay quite a bit of money to participate and that money goes to conservation efforts.

Even the National Geographic has indicated that these hunting camps help them, saying, “The great irony is that many species might not survive at all if hunters didn’t try to kill them. Trophy hunting is crucial for wildlife conservation in Africa. by creating (financial) incentives to promote and conserve wildlife as a land use over vast areas…”

These hunting facilities and parks generate roughly $200 million, which goes a long way toward protecting the species.

So while the images are disturbing to look at, they don’t really give the full story. The conservation groups make sure to target the old animals and prevent the young ones from reproducing, or those that may be overpopulated and face famine if numbers get too high.

What do you think, is it unacceptable to hunt these animals or is it okay as long as they do it responsibly?